Why did Dennis Kucinich run?

During the primary season, I really was not a supporter of any candidate. If I HAD to pick one, I would say Edwards. Anyway, because of that, I did not really follow the primary season all that closely. My question is: What platform did Dennis Kucinich run on and how was it different than Howard's Dean stances on most issues especially the War in Iraq. Do you think the fact that there were several liberal candidates: Carol Moseley Braun, Dennis Kucinich, Sharpton, and Dean, allowed for a hawkish moderate like Kerry be elected as support was scattered between the liberal wing, in terms of both money and manpower?
I am sorry that I am going back to the primaries. But, with Bush away and Congress on vacation, not much political news is going on.

wanted to pull troops out of Iraq, Dean did not. Kucinich supports gay marriage, Dean did not. Kucinich supported single payer healthcare, Dean did not. Those are a few differences.

because of his opposition to the iraq war as a congressmember where a lot of people took notice of him, many for the first time.

He was the only candidate, other than maybe Sharpton, who stood up for our core values.

You are absolutely correct.Kucinich was the only real Democrat in the race as far as I could see.

of them voted for someone else.

:eyes:

A couple of these were reported in articles in debateusa. The trouble is most people wre unfamiliar with him.

and if I had a million dollars, I'd be a millionaire.


:shrug:

being right or high quality doesn't mean you'll win (unfortunatly).

Otherwise, arthouse movies would outsell big-budget blockbusters.

but I find statements like - "he most represented Dems" incredibly condescending.

War: Kucinich led the fight against the war. Dean favored a stronger war resolution but opposed the one that passed. He later joined Dennis in opposing the war.

Peace: Dennis proposed a Department of Peace. Dean never went on board in supporting a Department of Peace.

Universal Health Care: Kucinich was for Universal Health Care. Dean was opposed to Universal Health care and suggested a plan whereby making it easier for corporations to help their employees with health care.

Death penalty: Kucinich was opposed. Dean was a strong supporter of capital punishment.

Environment: Kucinich has a strong environmental record and opposed Yucca Mountain. Dean's opponents in Vermont complained that he had a terrible environmental record. Dean supported Yucca Mountain.

NAFTA and the WTO: Kucinich wanted to cancel NAFTA and withdraw from the WTO. Dean wanted to reform them. There is no provision for reforming NAFTA.

Labor: Dennis has a 98% rating, the highest of all candidates on labor issues. In Vermont, Dean generally favored the corporate execs over labor.

Gun control: Dennis is for it. Dean feels it is a state by state issue.

Choice: Dennis was the only candidate to make Roe v. Wade a litmus test. Dean refused to go that far but was pro-choice.

Gay Marriage: Kucinich was for this. Dean was opposed. Dean favored civil unions and felt states should have the right to make gay marriage illegal.

Kidding....

I agreed on nearly everything Dennis said and spoke about...but America isn't Czechoslovakia.

In Czechoslovakia, people like Vaclav Havel could run and people would listen to him.



Look at him. He's a hero. He's cool. And he's "unattractive" in terms of American Presidential Appearances(tm).

Dennis is the same way. Unless America suddenly looks at presidential candidates for their real ideas and solutions and not negative ads and lies, people like Dennis are never, ever....ever....ever....going to be President.

I think he stayed in as long as he did because he promised us he would. His issues were different in many ways than the others and I believe that he wanted them to remain in the public dialog as long as possible. I have huge respect for him for that, it could not have been an easy thing to do. I always had a lot of respect for him.

His being awarded the Gandhi Peace Award was also proof of his international stature where people around the world do not look at the physical but the mental maturity.

Past Recipients of the Gandhi Peace Award

Eleanor Roosevelt
The Rev. Dr. Edwin T. Dahlberg
Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath
The Rev. John Haynes Holmes
Dr. Linus C. Pauling
James Paul Warburg
Dr. E. Stanley Jones
A.J. Muste
Norman Thomas
Jerome Davis
The Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr.
Dr. Benjamin Spock
Senator Wayne Morse
Dr. Willard Uphaus
U Thant
Dorothy Day
Dr. Daniel Ellsberg
Peter Benenson and
Petretti Ennals
Prof. Roland Bainton
Dr. Helen Caldicott
Dr. Corliss Lamont
Randall Watson Forsberg
Robert Jay Lifton
Dr. Kay Camp
Dr. Bernard Lown
Prof. John Somerville
Cesar Chavez
Marian Wright Edelman
Senator George McGovern
Ramsey Clark
The Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr.
Father Roy Bourgeois
Edith Ballantyne
The New Haven/Leon Sister City Project
Howard and Alice Frazier
Michael True and NEPSA
Dennis Kucinich - 2003
Karen Jacob and David Cortright - 2004

This must be the strongest condemnation of American democracy - it is not a democracy but akin to a pop star contest!!

So Dennis fell by the wayside.

And the way most Americans are reacting to a fraudulent election shows that this is the case.

In any other democratic country every individual seriously concerned with democratic values would have been out in the streets to stop the stealing of their country!!

How many Bev Harrises are there who are after the whole truth. Most are content to sit back and be armchair critics and analysts of the system and accept this result.

From what I am hearing now, even from major liberal media sources, you are going to suffer 4 more years of Bush.

Grand excuses are already being given for this. The most common one being Bush has made his bed so let him lie in it!!

Few Americans appear really concerned, other than lip service, of the alter of death on which Bush is sacrificing American and lives of innocent civilians from other countries.

Only Dennis got it absolutly right!!

If such an election were to happen in a truly democratic country, people would have sued the entire Republican Party for fraud!! This is not just a question of s stolen Presidential election as many are being led to believe!!

It is the German courts that are being used to bring the war crimes charges against those Americans responsible for them.

Does that not show how flawed the American system really is?

Jacob Matthan
Oulu, Finland

I am very happy to support someone included among this group.

inspireing, including living in a car for a while.

Seriously. I live in CT, and the "race" had been determined by the media long before our primary. So, knowing my vote would not actually have any impact whatsoever on the outcome, I was able to vote for the candidate whose positions I supported the most. I surprised myself...I never intended to vote DK until it was clear that Kerry already had taken the nomination.

That said, the reference to DK's "international appeal" cannot be overlooked. It is very, very sad, but true. In a bad way. What I mean is, we are SSOOOOOOO superficial here in America, that we simply do not have it in our collective capacity to vote for a goober like Kucinich. We vote for the tall guy, the handsome guy, the movie star guy, the guy's wife...we vote against screams, and funny hair, and height. They don't tend to do that in European nations. They vote on the details and positions. We stopped doing that in this country years ago.

That's why he ran and he presented the true anti-war wing of the party better than any other candidate. However, he did not and does not represent the Democratic Party as a whole. And, when he went straight up against Kerry in Oregon, where the left wing had every chance to prove they were the real core of the party, he got 18%. The lefty lefties don't want to hear that, but it's true. They have alot of great ideas and are exactly right on alot of issues, but it seems to me they have to learn how to frame those issues so middle America can hear them.

Kerry won the primaries because of his liberal record and his experience, maturity, and common sense approach to governance. If the Democratic Party had wanted a hawkish moderate, they would have gone with Lieberman. He washed out first, as I recall.